


Hearts Beating as One

by carolc24



Category: Undertale (Video Game)
Genre: Angst, F/F, Family Ending, Post-Undertale Neutral Route - Empress Undyne Ending, aborted murder run / queen alphys, betrayed undyne, my contribution to the neutral run zine, neutral runs
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-11-20
Updated: 2018-11-20
Packaged: 2019-08-26 11:34:28
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,370
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16680838
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/carolc24/pseuds/carolc24
Summary: Being a hero is a lot harder when you have to admit you have weaknesses.  Or, over several neutral runs, Undyne realizes her true feelings for Alphys.





	Hearts Beating as One

**Author's Note:**

> This was written for "Pretty Bad at Being Evil", a zine devoted to Undertale's neutral endings. Check it out at @neutralzine on tumblr! I'm on tumblr too, at @uselessundertalefacts.

When Undyne is with Alphys, she’s always a bit off-balance.

It’s not that she doesn’t like Alphys, or that she doesn’t like spending time with Alphys. It’s just that her time with Alphys is so different from the rest of her life. She’s used to being big and loud and destructive and inspiring, the heroine of everyone’s hopes and dreams! Children admire her, adults respect her in a distant sort of way. She has mentors, like Asgore and Gerson, who build her up to be a leader. And she has Papyrus, her apprentice, who listens to everything she says.

Alphys isn’t like that. She’s more like... an equal. A friend. But why would Alphys want Undyne as a friend? Undyne doesn’t know anything about human history, or mechanics, or sciencey stuff. So Undyne will settle for destroying the barrier and being Alphys’s hero.

* * *

Being a gym teacher isn’t that different from being the Captain, Undyne thinks. Thinking back, she never did much as Captain anyway. She failed to capture the human, and before the human fell, she was mostly just resolving petty fights and keeping kids out of trouble. Which is pretty much the same as being a gym teacher, really. Except with more bench pressing! So it’s fulfilling work, in its own way.

Everything is fine. Even though Asgore is gone, and Undyne had never thought Asgore could be killed, or that everything could go on without him. And she isn’t much of a hero to anyone anymore, just someone who really, really wanted to kill a child. And Alphys isn’t talking to her anymore. But it’s okay, because they’re working together on a way to break the barrier! And together, they can accomplish anything.

* * *

Asgore is dead, and so is Papyrus. The human killed them. This is what humans do, they find the kindest, most caring people and destroy them without remorse. The former queen would have monsters forget that crime, but Undyne wouldn’t allow that. She wishes she could talk to Toriel, or Sans for that matter, maybe make some kind of promise to get revenge. But she hasn’t seen either of them in weeks.

Despite everything, Alphys is still here. She helps Undyne with drawing up battle plans, sifting through Royal Guard applications, working with Mettaton on recruitment. She only talks to Undyne about work, now. No more long-winded rants about human history, or descriptions of puzzles she’s developed. She says as much as necessary, no more and no less. Undyne is sure she’ll be back to normal once they get to the surface.

* * *

Undyne doesn’t understand why the world hasn’t ended. She sits at the hot dog stand and people come up to her, smiling, asking for hot dogs. What reason do they have to smile? Asgore is gone, Alphys is gone, the human souls are gone, and it feels like no one cares. Even the queen, who should miss Asgore more than anyone, wasted no time in taking over his duties and erasing his human policies from the record.

She should have done something. She had so many chances to kill the human, and she missed all of them. She let the human manipulate her into befriending them. It’s clear that she could have saved Asgore. But what could she have done for Alphys? She’d be lying if she said she didn’t notice Alphys gazing longingly into the abyss when they first met, or how Alphys never seemed to have any real plans for the future, or how she always held herself at a distance, like she was afraid of getting too close to Undyne. But she had hoped that just being Alphys’s friend would be enough to keep her safe. She was wrong.

Maybe she could have trusted Alphys more. Maybe she could have opened up to her, accepted that being a friend means being soft sometimes. She could have told Alphys that she didn’t just consider her a friend, she needed her, needed her voice of reason and her shy smile and her passion for everything. Alphys made her believe she could be more than just a hero.

* * *

Watching the human mow everyone down, seeing that spark in their eyes as they dodged her spears without a hint of fear... the emotion it gives her is something she can’t describe.

She knows she should stop them before they get to Hotland. It’s exactly as she’s always imagined it, the hero striking down the evil human. But for some reason, she’s uneasy. There’s something she needs to do. She doesn’t know why she calls Alphys, but when she hears Alphys’s stammering voice on the other end, everything she didn’t realize she needed to say comes spilling out.

“Alphys, I need your help. I’m going to fight the human, but... I can’t do this alone. I need you to help me save everyone. You know the Underground better than anybody else, and you have your cameras, and you’re so brilliant, can you make sure everyone gets somewhere safe? I don’t know what’s going to happen to me, but if I know you’re safe, if I know everyone’s safe, and you’re going to help save the world... if I’m going to do this, I need to know you’re behind me, Alphys. We can stop this human if we work together, because when we’re working together, we can do anything.”

Alphys doesn’t answer at first, and Undyne remembers how much Alphys hates talking on the phone and starts apologizing when Alphys answers. “I’ll do it. I... I’ll get everyone somewhere safe. And I’ll watch you fight the human, and I’ll be supporting you in any way I can, I promise, just please... stay determined, okay?”

Undyne chokes out an “okay” and hangs up. And all at once, the emotional turmoil, the uncertainty, it all falls away. As she makes her way to the bridge, all she knows is that no matter what happens, this world will live on.

* * *

Papyrus says Undyne is being sappier than usual. She supposes it’s true. For some reason, she can’t stop thinking about how much she loves her friends. How she loves Asgore and his quiet compassion, Papyrus’s enthusiasm and sharp humor, and even the human and the way they befriend everyone they meet. And Alphys... it’s hard to describe how she feels about Alphys. Papyrus suggests she write a letter to her, and after several tries she sends the human off with a letter that’s honestly kind of embarrassing.

So she goes to find the human, and finds them with Alphys, who opens up to her in a way she hasn’t ever done before. It makes Undyne want to cry, seeing Alphys so worried about how Undyne feels about her. How could Undyne ever not love her? She tries to distract Alphys while also being honest, dunking her into a garbage can and saying everything she likes about Alphys, and then sending her off to train with Papyrus. After they’re gone, she regrets not being more straightforward. How’s Alphys supposed to trust Undyne if she’s too afraid to cry in front of her?

A few hours later, she gets a text from Alphys, asking if she can come over. Undyne runs to Alphys’s lab, and when the door opens and she sees Alphys, she can’t help but smile her biggest smile. She might also be crying a little bit, but Alphys doesn’t mention it, just puts on a human documentary (which is real, the human told her so!) and guides her over to the couch.

The human leaves the underground while they’re still snuggling on the couch. The next few days are a whirlwind of change, with the queen suddenly reappearing and taking over, Alphys getting more work to do, Undyne losing her job and getting a new one, and Asgore... well, Undyne misses Asgore. She finds herself telling Alphys all kinds of stories about him, and Alphys listens attentively and offers her tea when things get really emotional. But somehow, the future is looking brighter and brighter. She has a feeling that they’ll be leaving the underground very soon.

She tells Alphys, who gets jittery and excited all at once. “You know...” she says, “I have the same feeling.”


End file.
